Russia is committing "flagrant breaches of international rules", the head of Britain's security service will claim Monday in which he will also stress the importance of post-Brexit security ties. MI5 chief Andrew Parker will say in a landmark speech in Berlin that a March nerve agent attack on Russian nationals Sergei and Yulia Skripal, which also injured a police officer, was a "deliberate and targeted malign activity" on British soil.
Parker, who has a 35-year career in intelligence will say the attack is evidence of Russia pursuing an agenda through "aggressive and pernicious actions" and risks making the country a "more isolated pariah". Russia has denied any involvement in the attack and has challenged Britain to reveal evidence to back up its claim that the Russian state was likely behind it.
Parker will also condemn Kremlin disinformation following the attack - the first use of a nerve agent in Europe since the Second World War - in his speech before an audience of security chiefs in Berlin. The need "to shine a light through the fog of lies, half-truths and obfuscation that pours out of their propaganda machine" will be set out in his remarks, the first ever made outside Britain by a serving head of MI5.
Skripal, 66, remains in hospital following the attack in the Wiltshire city on March 4. His daughter Yulia, 33, and the British policeman have both been discharged from hospital.
A huge investigation to identify the would-be assassin or assassins is ongoing.
Parker will praise the international response to Salisbury, in which 28 European countries agreed to support the UK in expelling scores of Russian diplomats.
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